The Bill itself is awful and little loose, and continues this parliament’s history of terribly written legislation, but that can always be fixed at the 2nd and 3rd Stages via amendment. But this Bill will probably fall at Stage 1; the Parliament disagrees with its General Principle that people should be able to be able to choose assisted suicide as an end-of-life choice. I’m not entirely sure where I stand on the principle, but I know I am now more ‘pro’ side than I was at the start.

That was partly because of the Mason Institute debate I took part in at the end of the year. The motion was “That the House would legalise Assisted-Suicide in Scotland” – which was taken to mean passing the legislation proposed by Margo MacDonald, and I spoke in favour of the Proposition. So, I thought to mark the end of a parliamentary process, I would share my speech, and the (slightly noisy) video of the debate.
It’s an argument on the principles of the Bill, so hopefully of a similar kind to the remarks we’ll hear today. The whole debate was great on both sides, and I start at 1:03:05.

With Assisted Dying raising its head again South of the Border, it’s almost certain that we will see it come back here too after next year’s Scottish General Election – but until then, it’s unlikely it will be a live issue.

The Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill will be debated from 2.45pm in the Scottish Parliament. Decision Time will begin at 5pm. It can be viewed on BBC’s Democracy Live.